The sexual education debate has been a chronic one. No one can seem to agree on what age to teach children about sex, what details should be disclosed to different grades, if condoms should be supplied in schools, or if abstinence can be used as an effective approach to sex-ed.
While it seems as though this same song has been sung for decades, it has, indeed, evolved with the times. Educational videos shown in grade schools and high schools today struggle with drug abuse, rape, and coming into your own sexuality. A look at Coronet Films, which were shown in great regularity in American schools in the 1940s and ’50s, shows a completely different world of instructional videos for teens. Teens in the ’50s were taught how to say no to a goodnight kiss, not how to say no to a hit off a bong.
Several are available to view in the Prelinger Archives. While for many this will be a walk down memory lane, the younger generation can now see just how different things were a short 50 years ago.
Some suggestions are highlighted below:
While today these films are primarily screened as novelty pieces to mock, they are no doubt a precious capsule of the 1950s zeitgeist.
–Cara Binder
Blogs of the Day « ATer: Criação de Sites Empresa (5511) 2527-3032. Sites Dinâmicos! said
[...] Learn How to Be a Teen in 1950 The sexual education debate has been a chronic one. No one can seem to agree on what age to teach children about sex, [...] [...]
One week later… « Yorick Lives! said
[...] for “new” material. Success! I found these 1949-1951 era behavior modification films aimed at children and teens, titles like I Want to be a Secretary and Mr. Bungle Goes to Lunch. The [...]
trueten.de - Willkommen in unserem Blog! said
Blogkino: Lunchroom Manners (1959)…
Im Rahmen unserer Reihe “Blogkino” zeigen wir heute: “Lunchroom Manners” (etwa: “Anständige Essmanieren in der Volxküche”). Das Erlernte kann kommenden Samstag, beispielsweise im Subversiv in die Praxis umgesetzt werden.Verweisen möchen wir au…
The Agra Indian said
Here you are debating on age of sex education. In India we debate, sex education should be given or not. The biggest problem of developing countries. Narrow minded.
GrubLord said
What is it with all the fake comments on these blog posts? “The Agra Indian” seems to be the only other real person here…
inspiredand disgusted said
its because the government is evil
Archive.org’s Got the Goods « The Horrible Fanfare said
[...] Being a Teen in the 1950’s – Awesome and inadvertently funny videos on being a teen in an era past [...]
Golly! » Jeremy Hatch said
[...] The other night, all out of Netflix discs and desperate for something to watch, I found a series of videos up at the Internet Archive, courtesy the Prelinger Archives, that give guidance for living to the 1950s teen. [...]
junior said
send me some video at my email adress
Dave_Pet said
Hi,
About the Going Steady movie, this one:
http://www.archive.org/details/GoingSte1951
Were these seen as lame and silly by the teens, even back then?
Or was the “be decent, be good” tone so pervasive in society that most people fell for it?
Surely some of the WWII vets were far too jaded to fall for this, or let their kids fall for it, right?
I imagine my Dad laughing at this even back then, he’s a boomer.
Need more info, a doco on the subject anyone?
Cheers, Dave_Pet
Respectable Reviews said
Hah, this is good stuff. I grew up in the 80s, and I don’t even want to talk about the crazy stuff we did then
.